Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

  • The never-ending Halloween

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    2 min read

    I live in a community that really loves Halloween. Halloween, of course, is a day: October 31. But here, we celebrate with trick-or-treating over two days, with hours long past my children’s curfew. We also have a downtown celebration the Friday night before, so this year, that makes it October 29th, 30th, and 31st. And…

  • He has a name

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    6 min read

    In the story of Bartimaeus, we encounter the limitations of our vision while Jesus invites us in to a new way of seeing.

  • No more Messianic Secret

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    3 min read

    For Sunday, the Twenty-Second Sunday after PentecostProper 25B Collect Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for…

  • Loud

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    1 min read

    Of what are we afraid? One of the things that strikes me about this week’s reading from Mark (10:46-52) is how much loudness is seen as a problem. The man is shouting and the disciples want him to be quiet. Who among us can’t relate? The person in the checkout line shouting at her kinds,…

  • Starting out will always be hard

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    1 min read

    The trick is to never start. This sounds like terrible advice. And it is, out of the wider context. Which is actually the source of most of our struggle: context. Getting started is always hard. There is no getting around it. Doing something for the first time, starting a project, starting your week, starting a…

  • About Getting Mad

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    7 min read

    James and John expose how confusing the way of love is. They ignore the teaching, but so do the other disciples.